POLI-TICKING

Wharton is in

Delaware Republicans got the candidate they wanted
for attorney general, lining up Ferris W. Wharton and
his long resume as a prosecutor to run against Democrat
Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III and his political pedigree.

The party announced Wharton's availability Monday
morning in a press release that represented the
culmination of about a month's worth of work to get him
into the race.

The press release left no doubt what the thrust of
Wharton's campaign would be -- focusing on the allure of
a trial-hardened attorney who has been practicing law
since 1978 when Biden was nine years old.

The words "experience" or "experienced" appeared six
times in the press release, not to mention "expertise,"
"seasoned" and "qualified," as in this quotation from
William Swain Lee, the Sussex County Republican chair
who was the judge when Wharton co-prosecuted Thomas J.
Capano:

"Ferris Wharton is the most experienced prosecutor in
Delaware. He's been a successful prosecutor at both the
state and federal level and is highly regarded around
Delaware for his expertise, diligence and competence in
fighting for victims. I'm thrilled that Ferris Wharton
is ready to serve as our attorney general."

Wharton finds himself in a position to run because of
an unusual series of political twists.

It began when M. Jane Brady, the three-term
Republican attorney general, unexpectedly decided in the
fall not to risk re-election against Biden after a close
call in 2002. With a wink from Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, the
two-term Democrat, Brady got a Superior Court judgeship
-- which, ironically enough, could have gone to Wharton,
had Brady not arranged for it.

The Republicans' first choice for a candidate was
U.S. Attorney Colm F. Connolly, now Wharton's boss, who
got the larger share of the publicity for the
prosecution in Capano's murder trial. When Connolly
decided to stay where he was, Wharton became a close
second choice.

Wharton, 53, of Wilmington, joined the Attorney
General's Office in 1980, rising to be the chief deputy
for Brady until he switched to the U.S. Attorney's
Office in 2003. He left there Friday so he could enter
politics and will go to work in mid-April in the
Wilmington office of Fox Rothschild, a century-old firm
headquartered in Philadelphia.

When Wharton gave up the chief deputy's post, he said
he was looking forward to getting back to the courtroom
as an assistant U.S. attorney and away from
administration. If elected, he would be returning to
administration, but he said it would be different --
more policy, as opposed to the personnel issues he
handled as the chief deputy.

"The chief deputy stuff is what the attorney general
doesn't want to do. This is a whole different order of
magnitude," Wharton said.

Wharton has drawn a tough assignment to reverse the
Republicans' steady loss of statewide offices, which
have dwindled to two out of nine posts since Brady
departed in December and was replaced by Carl C. Danberg,
a Democrat whom Minner appointed.

Wharton will have to do it against superior
Democratic registration and someone who shares one of
the best-known names in state politics. Biden, the
senator's 37-year-old son, has been a lawyer for 10
years as a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, National
Guard JAG officer and private practitioner in
Wilmington.

"I'm looking forward to a serious campaign on the
role of the attorney general in Delaware and the issues
that are important to Delawareans," Biden said.

Wharton is not ready to start campaigning, but he
does have a time in mind.

"When I get back from the Final Four," he said.

Wasserbach is out

In contrast to the Republicans' recruiting success
with Wharton, the Democrats lost the candidate they
favored for state auditor.

Robert B. Wasserbach, who was the nominee in 2002,
told Democratic Party officials he has decided against a
rematch with Auditor R. Thomas Wagner Jr., the
Republican who has been in office since 1989.

Wasserbach was a walk-on who polled 38 percent of the
vote four years ago. Since the election, he left his job
as a banker to take appointments to government posts,
first as the Wilmington auditor and now the New Castle
County auditor.

"Basically it came down to, I've only been at the
county since May of last year, and I felt I made a
commitment to the county," Wasserbach said.

Wasserbach's decision leaves both parties with a hole
on their statewide tickets. The Democrats have to find
someone else to take on Wagner, and the Republicans
still are searching for a candidate against state
Treasurer Jack A. Markell, the Democrat running for his
third term this year.